Page 43 of Framed and Forgotten
When she stopped at the border, I crouched behind a bush, peering through the leaves, desperate to see what was happening. I should have seen it coming, but nothing could have prepared me for the shock that hit when a figure materialized from the shadows, stepping out right in front of my ex-wife.
The man who was my perfect replica.
I stilled, barely breathing to be imperceptible, honing my senses to pick up on their conversation.
“I told you not to show up here!” Nerine scolded him. “What if Koen sees you?”
“I guess it would just bring us closer to our goal,” he snickered, goosebumps shooting through my body as I realized how alike we sounded. “How else am I supposed to check if you’re doing your part?”
She crossed her arms. “I am. I’ve been making him drink the potion every day since he arrived.”
A growl got stuck behind my teeth as I heard her confession. It was even harder to contain Col, who would gladly throw away our mission to maul her here and now.
“Good,” my duplicate replied. “He should be infatuated enough to do anything you say by now. Go ahead and make the proposal before we have to change our plans again.”
Proposal? Plans? More questions flooded my mind. I still hadn’t figured out who this man was or why he looked like me, but it seemed I would be forced to worry about what kind of scheming they were up to.
As the man started turning away, Nerine rushed, “Wait!” He stopped and looked at her, eyebrow raised. Hesitantly, she continued, “A few days ago, I saw the mark on Koen’s arm. He said it’s just a tattoo, but I’ve been wondering…” Her voice was barely a whisper, making it hard even for werewolf hearing to pick up on what she said next. “Could he have been turned?”
My heart raced as I feared my identity would be exposed.
Thankfully, my replica quickly dismissed her. “No. These freaks can’t be created.Luckily. Makes our job to eliminate them easier.” With a pause, he spat, “But that’s my problem, not yours.”
My breath caught. So, Nerine’s beliefs weren’t unfounded after all. Whoever this man was, it was clear he knew about the Ashen Wolves’ return - and he couldn’t be the only one. He’d mentionedour job... Who was he working with? I had to find out.
But the next answer I got was to a different question.
“I sometimes wonder how he could have been chosen to lead,” he snorted, and once again, his words made little sense to me. “It’s just like my dumb brother to tattoo the mark of our kind’s greatest enemy without even knowing what it means.”
Brother, the word echoed in my head.
What the hell?
27
____________________
K O E N
As still as I tried to be,I couldn't quiet my racing heart. It pounded so loudly that it drowned out the distant conversation, the drumming deafening everything else. With every thump, one word hammered in my head.Brother. Brother. Brother.
Nothing made sense anymore.
With my mind spiraling, all I wanted to do was run. To find a safe place where I could collect myself. But bolting now would only draw attention. My emotional control was put to the test as I waited for their conversation to end, tension coiling tighter with every passing second. I felt like I was about to explode, struggling to contain my ever-growing anxiety.
When my duplicate finally turned and vanished into the forest, and my ex-wife carefully strode toward the heart of the territory, I slumped. Breathing in, I took in more air than I had in the past ten minutes. Little by little, I forced my short-circuiting mind to steady. I needed to shove what I had just discovered to the back of my mind, at least until I got out of here. I had to make it back before sunrise, or sneaking into my room unnoticed would become much harder.
Once alone and in private, I replayed what I had just heard over and over, searching for any sign that I might be losing my mind. This was too surreal to be true. Maybe if I pinched myself, I’d wake up, and this would be nothing more than a nightmare. Yet, deep down, I knew reality was never that simple.
My brother.Why had my duplicate referred to me like that? If he were my twin, it would explain why we looked exactly alike. But that wasn’t possible. I had always been an only son. There was no way my parents could have hidden the existence of another heir from me, especially not a twin. I suppose my father could have sired a pup from one of his many affairs, but a half-brother wouldn’t be an exact replica of me.
Fuck, this was insane.
A frustrated grunt escaped my lips, momentarily easing the tension building inside me. I paced the room, restless, trying and failing to make sense of anything. And the stranger's mystery was just the tip of the iceberg. Once I managed to figure out who he was, I’d still have to worry about what he knew about the Ashen Wolves and how much of a threat he posed. How had I gotten tangled up in this mess? When I started this investigation, I had no idea what I was walking into. Though the deeper I dove into this story, the more I feared the truth I was uncovering.
I lost track of how long I’d been moving in circles within those four walls, my mind racing a million miles a minute. All I knew was it had been long enough for my muscles to burn, but not quite enough to carve a hole in the floor. In the end, I came to the conclusion that I needed to leave.
I doubted I’d find any more answers here when all I ever came across were questions. At Azure Smoke, I could continue investigating my doppelganger’s identity more freely. More importantly, I needed to return and tell the Ashen Wolves that their existence was no longer a secret. Avril and her pack were indanger -wewere in danger. I had to get out of here and warn the others.
